Ambience can affect your sleep quality too. Television isn't the only possible distraction in your bedroom. The bed needs to be a stimulus for sleeping, not for wakefulness. Reserve bed for sleep and sexĭon't use your bed as an office for answering phone calls and responding to emails. Morning workouts that expose you to bright daylight will help the natural circadian rhythm. Exercising too close to bedtime can be stimulating. A study in the journal Sleep found that postmenopausal women who exercised for about three-and-a-half hours a week had an easier time falling asleep than women who exercised less often. Exercise boosts the effect of natural sleep hormones such as melatonin. Going for a brisk daily walk won't just trim you down, it will also keep you up less often at night. You don't need to avoid sleep aids if you absolutely need them, but before you turn to pills, try these eight tips to help you get a better night's sleep: 1. A study in the British Medical Journal associated several hypnotic sleep aids, including zolpidem (Ambien) and temazepam (Restoril), with a possible increased risk of death (although it couldn't confirm how much of the risk was related to these drugs). However, these drugs can have side effects-including appetite changes, dizziness, drowsiness, abdominal discomfort, dry mouth, headaches, and strange dreams. If you've been having trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, you may have turned to sleep medications in search of more restful slumber. Beyond making us tired and moody, a lack of sleep can have serious effects on our health, increasing our propensity for obesity, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes. We all have trouble sleeping from time to time, but when insomnia persists day after day, it can become a real problem. When it undergoes a shift with age, it can be harder to fall asleep and stay asleep through the night. This internal clock helps your body respond to changes in light and dark. There are also some changes in the way the body regulates circadian rhythms.

Later in life there tends to be a decrease in the number of hours slept. In women, it often begins around the time of menopause, when hot flashes and other symptoms awaken them. Restless nights and weary mornings can become more frequent as we get older and our sleep patterns change. Tired of feeling tired? Here are some simple tips to help you get to sleep.Īfter a night spent tossing and turning, you wake up feeling like a couple of the Seven Dwarves: sleepy…and grumpy.

The mods are always asleep